Shan Yu
by Katarina Krahe
Summary: Yet another speculation on the origins of XII. Crossover with Firefly. She is, in fact, familiar with the works of Shan Yu.


_Whee, new fandom. Hello, Kingdom Hearts! Please don't hurt me. –hides-_

_This is (yet another) speculation on the origins of an Organization XIII member: Larxene, to be exact. It also happens to be a crossover with the television series Firefly, so it may not make much sense if you haven't seen it. You've been warned. _

_Enjoy._

_**Disclaimer**__: Don't own, making no profit, borrowing characters from Square Enix and Joss Whedon, will return without much damage._

* * *

**Shan Yu**

(_on the subject of Arlene and Larxene_)

-

**She** was seven the first time she met her grandfather: her father's father, a slight, spry man with receding, snow-white hair, twinkling eyes, and small spectacles that perched on the end of his nose like some overgrown bug. He was warm, and smelled of cold metal and something tangy she couldn't identify, and upon the ritual exchange of a greeting hug, she got the impression that her grandfather did not much like physical contact.

It was only a short visit; her father had something he needed to discuss with her grandfather, something too sensitive to trust to the Cortex. At one point, Father and Grandfather disappeared for hours. Mother just sighed, and told her they'd be back soon.

It hadn't been what she asked.

But her father and his father returned, that odd, tangy-metallic scent floating around them like a tangible thing. She still didn't know what it was, but Father was back and they were leaving cold metal and darkness behind for their warm, welcoming home. That was enough.

-

**She** was sixteen the next time she met her grandfather. In the nine years since the last meeting, she had seen many things, foremost of which was her formal introduction to the twisted and bloody world her father and grandfather lived in. Her father might have preferred a son to take over his business, but her mother had died not long after the first meeting, so she would do. She would have to.

This time, when her father and grandfather left, she was allowed to come with them. What she saw thereafter ran together in her mind, both vibrant and blurry, but she remembered three things very clearly.

One; that tangy, slightly metallic scent… blood.

Two; her sweet-looking grandfather, still cruelly kind as he wielded knives and electricity to elicit pain, and

Three; his slightly accented voice, calm and genuinely curious:

"Are you familiar with the works of Shan Yu?"

-**  
**

**She** was twenty-three the day she died.

She'd been out on one of the border moons, personally taking a debt out of some unlucky idiot's hide, when the creatures came.

Oh, she'd heard of Reavers, the crazed half-men from the outer reaches of space, but these were something else, more animalistic than the images she'd seen. Black shadows with golden eyes and clicking claws, some with archaic armor or odd weapons. The people slow enough to be caught became them, leaving nothingness or occasionally a strange, silvery creature behind.

She ran, but was cornered; she fought, but her weapons could not harm the shadows.

When they took her heart, she refused to scream.

-

**She** might have been twenty-four when she wandered into the library, bored out of her skull, the hint of a long-forgotten memory tugging at the corner of her mind.

There was someone else sitting there, already looking up curiously as she entered. "I haven't seen you here before."

"Haven't been bored enough," she answered idly, scanning titles and authors. "Been too busy." What had that name been again? Started with an S, maybe?

"The Superior's busy with the Key, now." It wasn't a question.

"Yup."

There was silence. She kept looking for something familiar, as the other resumed the reading she'd interrupted.

Almost twenty minutes later, she spoke again. "Can you help me find something?"

"Maybe."

"I don't know the author's name… or anything, really. Just that it sounded Chinese, maybe. Like someone from the Land of Dragons. And I associate it with blood."

"Hmm." A slender hand on the bookshelves, running over the spines. "Interesting. Perhaps this one. Does the name Shan Yu sound familiar?"

-

**She **had forgotten how old she was by the second time she died. She'd forgotten almost everything by that point; only flickers remained.

Blood.

A cruelly gentle man with glittering eyes.

"Are you familiar with the works of Shan Yu?"

* * *

_And if you didn't figure out who that lovely old man was, go watch Firefly. Specifically, the episodes Train Job and War Stories. Seriously. _

_I realize now that I haven't given a concrete name to /anyone./ Thus, the Nobody in the library can be whomever you want him to be. Personally, I pictured Zexion for that scene. If you saw someone else, by all means, let me know._

_Constructive criticism, and praise, are always welcomed. Bye now! _

_-Katana_


End file.
